Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold separate talks in Moscow on Tuesday with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Kremlin has announced. The meetings come as diplomatic efforts to end the US-Israeli war on Iran intensify.

Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters on Monday that Putin will meet the two leaders after hosting a summit of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum in the Russian capital.

Ushakov said bilateral contacts with visiting leaders are routine at such gatherings, and that Putin would also hold talks with a number of other leaders on the sidelines, including representatives of Mozambique, Equatorial Guinea and Libya. The Kremlin has not said what specific issues will be discussed with the Iranian and Qatari leaders.

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that Pezeshkian was due to leave for Moscow on Monday night to attend the gas forum. Before his departure, the Iranian president said relations between Tehran and Moscow were expanding and that he would discuss strengthening bilateral cooperation with Putin. The two men last met on October 8 in Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan.

The Moscow talks follow a flurry of diplomacy in the region. Iranian state television said on Monday that Tehran hosted a first meeting with representatives of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey, the recent signatories of the Mecca defence pact, who agreed to continue discussions on cooperation, including regional peace and security. Reports from the same meeting quoted Pezeshkian as saying Iran has the right to peaceful nuclear activities, while Iranian media said the nuclear issue was off the table in the talks with the regional powers.

Observers say the contacts reflect a wider effort to stop the conflict from restarting.